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Robert McCrum

Sue Lawley's castaway is writer and journalist Robert McCrum.

Sue Lawley's guest this week is Robert McCrum. The author of six highly acclaimed novels and literary editor of the Observer, he describes how he woke up one morning, at the age of 42, to a raging headache and partial paralysis. He had suffered a stroke and it was to take him more than a year to recover. Later, he was to write a memoir about that process which became not only a guide to other sufferers, but also a love story dedicated to his wife.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Prelude - Cello Suite No 3 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Book: Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome
Luxury: St John's Wort

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 10 Mar 2000 09:00

Music Played

  • Benjamin Britten

    Elegy (from Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings)

    Soloist: Peter Pears with Dennis Brain Orchestra: Boyd Neel String Orchestra Conductor: Benjamin Britten

    • Britten: Serenade/Michelangelo etc.
    • Decca.
  • Bill Haley and His Comets

    Rock Around The Clock

    • The Best Rock ‘n’ Roll Album in the World Ever!.
    • Virgin.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31/2 'Tempest' - 3rd movement

    Soloist: Wilhelm Kempff

    • Beethoven: Piano Sonatas 16, 17, 18 & 19.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
  • George Gershwin

    Rhapsody in Blue

    Soloist: Andre Previn Orchestra: the London Symphony Orchestra

    • Gershwin:Rhapsody in Blue: An American in Paris.
    • EMI.
  • Bob Dylan

    Tangled up in Blue

    • Blood on the tracks.
    • CBS.
  • The Lightning Seeds

    Change

    • Shine Too.
    • Polygram TV.
  • William Shakespeare

    Fear No More the Heat O' the Sun (from Cymbeline)

    Artist: Ted Hughes

    • By Heart: 101 Poems to Remember.
    • Penguin Audiobooks.
  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Johann Sebastian Bach

      Suite for Solo Cello No. 3 in C major - 1st movement

      Soloist: Paul Tortelier

      • Bach:Les 6 Suites Pour Violoncelle.
      • EMI.
  • Book Choice

    • Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K Jerome

  • Luxury Choice

    • St John’s Wort

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest Robert McCrum

Broadcasts

  • Sun 5 Mar 2000 11:15
  • Fri 10 Mar 2000 09:00

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